The Garden Thief
by ladygizarme
Summary: Written for faor on lj. Someone is stealing from Naruto's precious garden! Sasuke and Naruto Friendship/Pre-slash subtext. Rated for slight language.


**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Naruto**_** or its characters, and make no money from the writing of this fanfiction.**

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_**The Garden Thief**_

**Author:** ladygizarme

**Beta:** none :(

**Words:** just under 3,500

**Spoilers:** none

**Rating:** PG

**Warnings:** very slight language, fluff, pre-slash subtext

**A/N:** Happy Birthday 2009, Naruto!! Written for o0o_faor_o0o in sasunaru_kink on lj, for the request: _According to wikia, Naruto likes to garden. I want something to do with this strange factoid about the boy._

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**The Garden Thief**

"Ah, damn it! Not again!" Naruto exclaimed in outrage one morning when he went out on his balcony, just as he did every day, to check on the many plants he kept.

He gazed with a mixture of sorrow and anger at the vines of near-ripe tomatoes he had carefully staked inside a long garden box. Today, just as had happened two days before, there was a tomato missing. It would've been _just ripe_, too!

Quickly, Naruto checked his other plants, examining every leaf, every vine, every stalk, every petal, but everything else looked perfectly fine. Even the pots of marigolds he'd gotten under Ino's advisement that they would keep pests and small animals away from his garden seemed completely undisturbed.

But there were still a total of two tomatoes missing now. Naruto was irritated. He glared around at the scatterings of birds on wires and roofs nearby, highly suspicious. Ever since he'd caught one pecking at the eye of his little scarecrow (the one that looked like Kakashi, with a fresh pole up his back), he didn't trust them _one bit_.

"You thieving birds! Stay away from my garden!" He yelled at them, his voice echoing over the rooftops as he shook a fist threateningly at them. "I'm warning you!"

The birds, mostly unperturbed, merely stared back at him with beady eyes, some shaking out their wings or tail feathers, a few flying off to get away from the noise, and a good handful simply ignoring him completely as they continued chattering on to themselves.

With a huff, Naruto finished watering and pruning his little balcony garden, watered the ferns inside his apartment, set his watering can in its usual spot, and left to meet his team for training.

Training was the usual. Kakashi was late, and Naruto complained that they shouldn't have to wait for him because they were more than capable of training on their own. Sakura gave him a bump on the head with her fist and told him to shut up, even though he suspected she felt the same, and Sasuke stood off to the side, hands in his pockets, pretending not to know them even though Naruto was almost positive he had an amused smirk on his face while he did so.

Finally Kakashi showed, and paired Naruto with Sasuke, as usual. Naruto didn't mind at all, though, even if Sasuke was being especially weird lately (ever since they'd come back from Wave Country, in fact) with all the looks that Naruto couldn't quite decipher and made him feel weird, which, in the end, only served to annoy him so that he fought even harder.

They took a break for lunch, relaxing in the shade of a tree near a stream, and Naruto looked away when he noticed Sasuke pull a slice of tomato out of his lunchbox—it made him lament his own missing tomato from that morning all the more.

Sometime in the late afternoon, Kakashi and Sakura left, the former giving the excuse of having finished his book and needing to go get the next one, the latter attempting to call Sasuke's attention but failing as he'd been completely focused on directing a superior smirk at Naruto while attempting to kick his ass. By the end of the day, both Naruto and Sasuke were exhausted, collapsing on the ground haphazardly next to each other, some of Sasuke's hair just resting over Naruto's sweaty arm as it fanned out on the ground around his head, both of them looking up at the sky filled with color.

"Ugh. Hot. Get off," Naruto complained with somewhat ragged breath, tossing Sasuke's hair off his arm with a fling of his wrist, but not moving otherwise.

At this, Sasuke rolled to his feet, stood, and sauntered away, hands in his pockets.

Naruto sat up immediately. "Oi, Sasuke! Where you going, bastard?!"

Sasuke paused a moment and just barely looked over his shoulder to answer, "There's this thing called _dinner_, maybe you've heard of it?"

Naruto pouted—no, _scowled_—at him. Sasuke turned just a little more, cocking his head to the side and showing his amused smirk to Naruto, his eyes alight with that weird gleam. Naruto frowned, wrinkling his nose in distaste at not understanding what that look meant, and looked away to avoid it.

"Well?" Sasuke said impatiently.

"_Fine_. See ya tomorrow, then, bastard!"

And with that, Naruto leapt to his feet and ran off towards his own apartment, hoping no more tomatoes had been stolen while he was gone, and missing Sasuke's quiet sigh of, "Idiot."

When he got home, Naruto again checked his garden, and was relieved to find everything mostly intact, though it seemed the birds had finally succeeded in completely pecking away the eye of his scarecrow—a clump of stuffing was now sticking out in its place. Giving his nearly-ripe tomatoes a careful caressing pat, he told his garden goodnight and went inside to make ramen for his dinner.

The next morning, all his tomatoes were still there, and Naruto was pleased to see that a handful of them looked like they would be ready to pick in just a day or two.

The morning after that, two tomatoes were missing.

"Argh! What the hell!" Naruto cried, so angry he threw his watering can—still half-full with water—at a nearby collection of birds. This earned him loud squawks of indignation and reproval from both the birds and someone down in the street, who had been rained on by the watering can as it whirled overhead. Naruto dug his hands into his hair and pulled in frustration. "I just want to get one ripe tomato from my own freaking garden! Is that so much to ask?!"

With his jaw set in determination, Naruto dug into the pouch on his leg, pulled out his roll of wire, and proceeded to make a crude net going from his roof's awning to the banister around his balcony. Then he set explosive tags along the wires, and stood back to look up at his work. Crossing his arms over his chest, he nodded in satisfaction and left to meet his team.

That day, they had to help an old lady weed her garden, and Naruto zoned out as he worked, idly examining the plants surrounding him and ignoring the occasional sting of a thorn or lurch of disgust when his fingers groped at a worm or grub in the earth. When lunchtime came, the old lady called them over to a round table on her patio and offered them some vegetables from her garden along with some lemonade. Naruto declined the vegetables, but accepted the lemonade and gulped it down thirstily, sighing in satisfaction afterward. Then a pale arm reached in front of him to snatch the last tomato from the large bowl of vegetables, and Naruto's contentment suddenly disappeared.

Sasuke gave him a sideglance, apparently noticing Naruto's scowl, and gave him one of those odd looks again. Before Naruto could even try to decipher it, it morphed into a look of curiosity as Sasuke cocked his head to look more fully at him.

"What's the matter, dobe? You wanted it?" Sasuke held the tomato up in offer, and Naruto's eyebrows leapt to the top of his forehead for a moment at Sasuke's rare show of generosity.

"N-no," Naruto answered, stumbling over his words in his surprise. "I—I don't like vegetables."

"You should still eat some," Kakashi told him from the other side of the table. "They're good for you."

Naruto wrinkled his nose up at his teacher's advice, and refilled his lemonade instead.

With a shrug at Naruto's obvious refusal, and that stupid amused smirk back on his face, Sasuke bit into the tomato as if it were an apple, and Naruto slurped loudly at his drink in order to ignore the way Sasuke sucked gently at the juicy, red flesh of his snack.

The next morning, Naruto was pleased to see both his explosive net and his garden still intact, and went to meet his team in higher spirits than usual. After the sun of the day, the rest of his tomatoes should be ready to pick. He would do it that night, when he got back from training.

Naruto would have said training was the usual that day, except for the fact that Sasuke was unusually late and the look on his face was especially strange once he did show up (only half an hour before Kakashi). He looked particularly superior and—Naruto could hardly even think the word when it came to Sasuke, but it was true—_mischievous_. Naruto decided he'd better keep a close eye on Sasuke that day, because he looked like he was planning something.

But nothing happened. Once Kakashi got there, Sasuke got down to business as usual. As the day progressed, Naruto gradually eased up on his suspicion, and just concentrated on kicking Sasuke's ass.

Early in the evening, a hawk flew overhead and Kakashi tracked it with his eye a moment before bidding them goodbye for the day. Sakura commented that she guessed training was over for the day, and invited Sasuke to dinner, but he refused just as always. Naruto was going to invite Sakura himself, but before he could, Sasuke punched him out of the blue, knocking him to the ground as Sakura made her escape.

"What was that for, you bastard?!"

"It's called _training_, usuratonkachi. You shouldn't let your guard down like that," Sasuke informed him with that irritating smirk.

Naruto scowled at him, rubbing his sore cheek. "Training's over, asshole. I wanted to ask Sakura out to dinner!"

"Tch. Idiot," Naruto barely heard Sasuke mutter under his breath.

Naruto immediately got to his feet, ready for a fight, sure that Sasuke was going to mock him for continuing to ask Sakura out even though she always said no. Instead he got his second Sasuke-related surprise of the week, as Sasuke grabbed his wrist firmly and dragged him away.

"H-hey! What're you doing?!"

"Hn," Sasuke merely grunted in reply, though it sounded a tad more amused than annoyed.

As they passed through the village and started getting closer to the outskirts on the opposite side from the training grounds, Naruto was starting to grow angry and frustrated with Sasuke's silence on the matter as he continued gripping Naruto's arm uncomfortably tight.

"Sasuke, would you let me go?!" he demanded, trying to yank his arm away. "Where are you taking me, anyway?"

"I told you before, didn't I? It's called _dinner_," Sasuke answered simply, gripping him tighter and dragging harder until his words finally sunk into Naruto's head and he finally decided to come along on his own.

Naruto couldn't help but notice, though, that even when he matched Sasuke's pace and it was obvious he would come willingly, Sasuke didn't let go of his arm. His grip let up, and no longer hurt, but he didn't let go. Naruto decided not to mention it. It didn't really bother him, after all, now that Sasuke was kind of being nice about it. However, as they turned onto the road that led into the Uchiha district, Naruto suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and this time Sasuke's hold on him was too loose to drag him along.

"Wait, I just remembered! I need to check on something at home first," Naruto told Sasuke before the other boy could complain.

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at him. "Well, let's hurry, then."

"Huh? But you don't have to come with me. I can just meet you at your house when I'm done."

Sasuke shrugged, "I'd only be waiting on you, anyway."

So they went together. As soon as they got into Naruto's apartment, he ran to his balcony to check on his tomatoes. This time he would pick them before the culprit could get them!

"No!!" he cried in anguish. All but three of his tomatoes were gone!

Naruto dropped down to his knees and started checking for other damage to his tomato plants. Surely there would be something left behind if a bird or animal was stealing his tomatoes. But there was… nothing. It was neat and clean… but his explosive tag net was also untouched. It didn't make any sense! He was so caught up in wondering how the thief had done it, he didn't hear the tap of ninja sandals following him out onto the balcony.

"Tomatoes, huh?" Sasuke said from behind him, leaning his back against the open doorway. "I thought you didn't like vegetables."

"I like _mine_," Naruto snarled without really meaning to, and immediately felt apologetic, though he didn't say so.

Sasuke looked caught off guard and… hurt… for a moment, but then his expression went neutral and he simply shrugged.

Naruto sighed in defeat and got up again, three tomatoes now cradled in his arms. "Let's go."

Again a black brow was lifted at him. "Aren't you going to put those away first?" Sasuke asked, pointing to the tomatoes.

"And leave them here for the thief to steal? No way!" Naruto replied vehemently.

So back to the road they went, and followed it all the way to Sasuke's house.

When they got there, Sasuke immediately set to work preparing dinner. Naruto slowly eased himself into a chair at the kitchen table, somewhat bewildered at the fact that he was sitting in Sasuke's kitchen, watching him prepare a full-scale meal of some sort with practiced ease. Gently, he let the tomatoes roll from his arm to the table, and looked at them in place of staring at Sasuke, which made him feel a little uncomfortable for some stupid reason.

He examined each tomato—its size, the smooth, firm skin, the soft, red color—then lined them up in front of him. Looking at them a little longer, he set them a little closer together, so that they touched each other. And then, after a few more seconds, he put them in a circle—or was it a triangle?—instead, right in the center of the table. Deciding that that looked best, he gave a short nod and left them there.

It was at the precise moment that he realized he had nothing more to distract himself with, that Sasuke came over to the table.

"Dinner will be ready soon. Until then…" Sasuke said, and set a plate of tomatoes, cut into wedges, in front of Naruto.

This time it was Naruto's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I told you, I don't like vegetables."

Sasuke smirked. "You'll like _these_. Besides, tomatoes aren't vegetables. They're fruit."

"Nuh-uh! Fruit is sweet! Tomatoes aren't sweet!"

"They are if you eat them right," Sasuke told him, like he knew a secret Naruto didn't, which made Naruto scowl.

"Yeah right. If they're sweet, then why do you like them so much? You hate sweet things, don't you?"

Naruto suddenly found himself blinking, unsure if he'd really seen what he thought he saw when Sasuke's mouth quirked up in a way quite different from the smirks he always wore. Was that… an actual smile? He couldn't be sure, because it was already gone, Sasuke's mouth now set in a determined line as he pushed the plate closer to Naruto.

With a resigned pout, Naruto picked up one of the wedges and eyed it with distaste.

"Just try it," Sasuke cajoled.

Naruto sighed and stuck the piece in his mouth, chewing quickly and gulping it down with a sour face. Bleh, vegetables were _gross_.

Too busy squinting his eyes and making a show of not liking it, Naruto missed the roll of Sasuke's eyes and amused head shake as he watched him.

"You're doing it wrong. You have to actually _taste_ it."

Sasuke went to the counter and got two more tomatoes that he had chilling in a bowl of water, then sat down in the chair across from Naruto.

"Here," Sasuke said, holding a tomato out to him.

Reluctantly, Naruto took it, looking at him warily.

"Now, this time, don't just wolf it down! You have to savor it. If you go into it believing it's going to be awful, it will be."

"But I already _know_ it's going to be—"

Sasuke cut him off, "Don't think of it like that. Think of it like a piece of fruit, and bite into it. Like this."

And Sasuke bit into his tomato, just like it was an apple. Naruto watched the strangest look of contentment come into Sasuke's face before his eyes closed in apparent bliss and Naruto had to look away, feeling awkward again for staring.

He looked warily at his own tomato, narrowed his eyes at it, tried to imagine it as a sweet apple just off the tree, and then closed his eyes to make the trick work better. He bit into it—a nice, big, juicy bite. Juice erupted and flowed into his mouth as the fruit sat, soft and somewhat tantalizing, on his tongue.

And then Naruto moaned. It _was_ good. He chewed his bite up slowly, taking the time to taste it, and when he swallowed, he took another bite. After thoroughly enjoying that one, too, he licked the juice off his lips and opened his eyes, mouth splitting into a grin.

When his eyes refocused, obsidian eyes were staring back at him, a knowing smirk on pale lips. "Told you."

Naruto stuck his tongue out, but immediately pulled it back in when Sasuke's expression turned weird again suddenly. He took another bite to distract himself, and hummed appreciatively as the juice filled his mouth again. When he pulled the tomato away to chew, Sasuke was still staring at him. Naruto eyed him guardedly, and almost leapt from his chair when Sasuke's hand suddenly darted towards him and swiped at his chin. Naruto quickly regained his composure, though, and watched in somewhat morbid fascination as Sasuke looked at the tomato juice now on his fingers, and then put his fingers into his mouth, sucking the juice off.

Then Sasuke seemed to realize what he'd done, and shot a look at Naruto that clearly threatened his life if he mentioned what had just happened, his cheeks coloring the slightest bit in the process. Naruto cleared his throat nervously, but said nothing, though he did set the tomato down—slowly, as if it might explode if he weren't careful. He got up, equally slowly, and started to walk away… but then something suddenly occurred to him, and he turned back around abruptly.

"Oi! These are _my_ tomatoes!" he exclaimed, pointing to the other two tomatoes chilling in the bowl on the counter, that he now noticed looked _just like_ the ones he'd been examining at the table earlier.

Sasuke snorted. "Took you long enough to notice, usuratonkachi."

Naruto growled and hurled himself at Sasuke, knocking his chair back along with him and pinning Sasuke to the floor by sitting on his stomach and holding his arms down, leaning into his face and baring his teeth a little. "You asshole! _You_ were the one stealing from my garden?!"

"I wasn't stealing. They were for me, after all," Sasuke replied, somehow still managing to sound superior despite the effort it took to talk with Naruto sitting on his diaphragm.

Naruto sat back, shocked at being found out. "W-what? No, they weren't!" he denied, but he couldn't look Sasuke in the face as he said it. Instead, he looked at the floor just beside where Sasuke's arms still lay, splayed out above his head.

Sasuke snorted. "Stupid. You don't even like vegetables. Don't you think it's a bit obvious?"

This made Naruto look at him, indignance shining in his eyes. "I can grow tomatoes if I want!"

"And do what with them?" Sasuke asked, smirking up at him in triumph.

Naruto glared, an angry pout on his lips. "Well, so what if they were for you? It's the only thing you seem to like—other than being an asshole—so how else was I supposed to thank you for… what you did?" he said awkwardly, neither of them having spoken of what had happened in Wave since they'd returned.

"Tch." Sasuke pushed Naruto off of him and sat up, moving off of the now-uncomfortable chair and onto the floor, and said softly. "You already thanked me, dobe."

Naruto matched his tone of voice for a moment. "Yeah, but I wanted to do it properly. But just cuz they were for you doesn't mean you can just _take_ them you… you… _**sneak thief**_!"

With that irritating, ever-present smirk on his face, Sasuke casually reached up to the table above his head, grabbed his own abandoned tomato, and stuffed it in Naruto's mouth.

"Thank you," Sasuke said then, and this time Naruto's eyes were too wide not to see the genuine smile. And, somehow, he thought it wasn't just for the tomatoes.

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**End**

***heart***

**~ lg**


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